Slicing machine



April 9, 1935. w. J. CAMPBELL 1,997,541

SLICING MACHINE Filed Jan. 15, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zfl Z! f? Z Z/ 2 (am am e g? M i April 9, 1935. w. J. CAMPBELL SLICING MACHINE 3 SheetsSheet 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1954 fiw'efifar Z/ZY/Zaw Jami vie We e- @1935 1. f 1,991,541

UN TED STJATES JPATENTE ICE sL onveMAcnmn K i William J, Campbell, Indianapolis; Ind., assignor j to American Slicing Machine Company,.( 3 l 1it .wcago,.Ill., a corporation ofNew York v j Application Januaryl15, 19s4 s fia1 vo. 706,716 p I i sciaims; 31. 146-102) V 7 b V I, My invention relates to an improvement in B 'down in position and thus holding the parts slicing machines and has for one purpose the inlocked position. It will be observed that there provision of an improved pusher plate for movis a cramping connection or engagement between ing the work along 'a work supporting carriage the member B and the inside OfthG cover B 5 toward thegauge plate and cutting p1ane;.-j,l lnwhen theparts are in locking'position; which 5 other object is the provision of a pusherplate firmly holdsthe springsagainstthe offsets BF. which may be at-selection yieldingly or manually It will also be noted, as nF i t the x operative. Another objectfis the provision of an of rotation of the knife and knife shaft are tilted improved means forholding a pusher plate at any slightly from the horizontal in order I to permit desired adjustment. Another'object is the protheforward face" of the guard plate B andthe 10 vision of means for permitting the pusher plate to corresponding.;face ofthe cover B to be tilted clear theknife structure andtheknifehousing slightly away from the vertical. Two degrees and the associated parts at all positions of a is afair angle."*Thepurposeiof-this is to permit work supporting {carriage and: pusher plate. the below described pusher: plate to :clear the Other objects will app arff onl m t m in guard plate and the cover plateB at all'positions. 15 the course of thespecification and claims. C is a gauge plate; the purpose of whichis to; I illustrate my invention moreor less dia- .gaugeithe thickness of theslices out. Itdoes not ramma ically in th omp nying drawing of itself form part'of the present invention and it W e nwillibe understood that. any suitable actuating Figure 1 is a'frontelevation j. V meansimay be employed thereforfor moving it 20 Figurez is "a partial plan view with parts toward and away from the cutting pla e: 3 .broken away? V 1 DD are tracks extending across the forward Figure 3 is asection on the line 33 of g face of the machine. Slidably mounted upon 'them' is the carriage D with awork receiving Figure 4 is S i LO the 4 O Fig-V trough including themain surface D3 and the 25 a d h shorter,"m0re steeply inclinedasurface or flange i u e 5 s a e o e -5, of D The-two areshown as substantially perpenllIe p 7 dicularto'each other. Associated with the car- Like pa ts a e indicated by'like symbols .riage structure'and particularlywith the portion thrbllghout t sp c fi a i n andd w D of the work receiverarea pair of spacedfianges 30 Referring to the drawings, A indicates any suit D D They are connected at their upper porable base upon which is mounted. a motor A I tions by a rod or track D7, Positioned upon'the which, r u h p y d belt v the member Di, for example by being screw threaded knife pul y A nd thereby rotates e knife .intoit, is a lower rod D? which has a terminal A i h knif shaft' 19 1 Which b h pulley and head DQ, shown in Figure 4. as adjacent but short 35 "knife are mounted. of the member D It is surrounded by a spring B is a guard plate'for the forward face of the D one end of. which abuts against the member n Which m a s n an a cuate edge B1 D and the other against an abutment D which which penetrates the forward d pr ss Of t is slidable'on the rodD Slidable with it is the 40 knife. It will be-seen that the axis ofthe knife s sleeve D to which it maybe secured, which sur- 40 somewhat tilted in O de t p t hi 'p n tra rounds the rod D and the spring D and which tion of the fguard plateintoj the hollow of the extends through a corresponding aperture in knife B is a cover overlying t pp r edge O the member D It. terminates in a handle D o e and h pp f t gu d plate whereby the hollow sleeve D may be drawn out- 4 B. It is mounted on a frame portion B which. wardly throughthe member D against the comextends upwardly to the rear of the knife A pression of the spring D 9. 1 p B is Sc ap m n d 1 1 the guard p ate 13. Slidable on the rod D is asleeve generallyin- It will be observed that the forward face of the A dicated as E which is provided-with a conic en- COVeI' as S wn t p Fi ure 4, is largement E which has associated with it an practically flush with the face of the guard plate even larger integral cylindrical portion E which, 9 B; 'In order to prevent any forward projection in turn, connects "with another conic portion or 'of any part, I provide locking'springs B which boss E The portion E carries a forkE as overlie offsetsB on theinwardly projecting upwill beclear from Figure 3, which partially surperedge portionsB" of the guardplate B.. B is rounds the exterior of the shell or sleeve D any suitable locking member for holding the cover "This will serve to prevent rotation of the member E about the upper shaft D".

The sleeve E is surrounded by an outer sleeve E with which is integrally formed a portion E which extends toward and has associated with it a handle mem ber' E". This sleeve E is rotatable about the sleeve E. In order to hold it against undesired rotation and to cause it'to hold any adjustment given to it, I provide a thrust member in the form overlaps the faces are similarly ,conic.

of sufiicient strength is employer} the. Sleev into l kns positi n-as by th pr n E everritl. s he abut.

of a spring E which is held on the sleeve E by the collar E E is a cylindrical extension of the sleeve E which surrounds the spring E and collar E The effect of the spring E is to thrust the sleeve E in such ia-sl ion as to cause a locking engagement against the cone shaped clutch member It will be observed fromlFigure 2 that the opposed engaging sur Therefore, if a spring E when it has been manually rotated into desired position, will keep that position because its.

weight and the w ight of the attached parts insu fi i nt to pause .a r la ve r ta n the .opposed ,clutch elements. As a positive locking means, I provide the structure shown in detail Fi ure '3 an .Eigi e Se i h p r on is an abutment member E with aninclined race 5 S1idably-=mounted in the member E is a locking plunger E which is normally thrust E is ,a m nua e ntre hanmewher th p ln er E may "be moved against the pressure of the spring E whenitis desiredto release it. It will be understood thatwbeuthepa tsare moved i the positio i w h theya e sh wn. i u the pl ng ent E11, slipping over its incl ned a e E .It hen d ops into l cki g p0- sit en b ause of the xpan n o e spr ng E, The parts are, th r or p sitive y locked the pesitien in whi h they are shown in Figure 3.

7 E I eu wa d mevemen When it is wished ,to release the parts, the operator s mply pull outwar ly the manu h ndl 1; is limited as-by the slot E w th-the penetrat ng cr w er abu me t E as sh wnFigure Wh n t e hand e ll iris mov d in o unloeking position, th oper tor s n then readi y swing th pushe plate structrue about t e shaf .1 In o d t -lim t et t en cf th sleeve E? d thus h u e pl st ucture; 'p orid ell-the leev .151 an abutm nt E which engages an ad ustabl a u me t E en associated wi h the member t wil be l ,.-as in Figu e 4, hat th abutmea 1 is rotatable. It s provided with a ckins membe D whi h ma b en a ed with a ee fr spendins aperture D as ociated, f example, with the me be E or the fork E r he m mb D is rotated nto ocking p s on,

then he spring D centrel the mo emen o th pu her la e str ture, When it moved into the f ll line or unleelsed posit n of F ure 4,

hen there is no actuating connection between the spring D and the pusher plate structure and free manual movement is possible,

G-indicates the pusher plate proper. It is pivthe m E6? on the handle E". G2

is an arcuate slot through whichpasses a limiting abutment or screw G whereby the are of rotation of the pusher plate G in relation to the arm E is limited. 6* is a spacing abutment 1 ich. ay e ffib r, Wh r hy he l we edg 9 th Pu h r plate w h its te th G is spac d upwa dly from he member D The closest appre eh tha s permitted is s own in F gure 1 and he pa ts are so proportioned that the 1,997,541 r V V teeth G are at all times out of contact with the member D or the teeth mounted on said menu.-

ber.

It will be realized that whereas I have described and shown a practical and operative device, nevertheless many changes might be made in the size, shape, number and disposition of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention. I therefore wish my description and drawings to be taken asin' a broad sense illustrative and diagrammatic rather than as limiting me to my spe I is shown Figure l and may ;be thrust agains the rear of the work. In either .case, the opera.-

tor may advance the work against thegauge; plate and toward the putting plane by urgin the pusher plate forward; After the locking member D 9, is in-the fullline position in which it is shown. in Figure 4, the spring structure is entirely disconnected and the user simply thrusts forward manually against the pusher plate G or the handle E or the member E .If the operator wishes a yielding thrust, he engages the member 13 and the slot D By means .of the handleD he can pull out the sleeve D thereby withdrawing, also, the pusher plate structure. .Hemay pull it out far enough to drop the work in front of it or he mayclamp the lower edge of the work against the plate.

In either case, when he releases the handle D 331 the spring 13 is iree to thrust the pusher plate against the work. In the various uses which may be made of thepusherplatait'is sometimes desirable to lock it upwardly away from the member 19 I provide means torso doing; name- .;.r

ly; the opposed engaging abutment E and plunger E ture shown in Figure 2, including the i conic m mber E nd he sprin E reefi ctive o hold the parts in any positionin whichthey are tended relative rotation of i left, preventing :uni the members E and'E- V r i I 3 In order to clear the upper structure of the machine, when the pusher plate G is in the iull line position of Figure ,3 the knife shaft A may be tilted slightly from the horizontal, permitting the forward face of the guard plate Band the corresponding face of the cover riage structure, as illustratedin Figure (l. Howv I may ti tthe arriag slightly om th horizontal, leaving the knife and associated] parts in results.

vertical position and obtain the same ly to tilt.

Furthermor; the plutch Struc- Likewise, both the carriage structure and the knife structure may be mounted slight- B? to be tiltedslightly away from the vertical. 'Two degrees. is a fair angle betweenthe gu rd plate and car- An important characteristic of device is V that the pusher plate structure has two different locking means, one permitting a measure of 10- tation of the pusher plate assembly and the other positively lockingthe pusher plate assem- .bly against rotation. It will be understood,.in

the use of. these t ms i d se iptienand claim h t th otatab e mounting pithe pusherplet too great force.

alluded to is the mounting of the pusher plate assembly as a whole, namely; its mounting for rotation in relation to the member D The pusher plate proper is alsorotatablymounted in relation to the member E its rotation being limited by the arc G This relationship between the pusher plate and its support E does not of itself form part of thepresentinvention. The positive locking means, including the member E is important when it is desired positively to lock the pusher plate assembly against rotation in a position above the work support D The spring actuated clutch is important in preventing unintended movement of the pusher plate assembly without positively locking it against desired movement. For example, it will prevent any accidental falling of the pusher plate uponthe hand of the user. It will also serve as a release in case the operator thrusts the pusher plate down against the work with Excess pressure may, for example, be applied bya heavy, powerful butcher and the spring actuated clutch connection serves as an automatic release as the spring of the meat itself will force back the'member E or cause a slight clockwise rotation of this member, referring to the position-of the parts in which they areshownin Figure 3. This excess pressure, however, can notf'force the clamp back far enough to release the meat, and the pins G will still penetrate the meat at the termination of the slight rotation of the member E leaving the parts in operative position. There is not enough resistance in the friction clutch to prevent the meat "from expanding to its normal bulk but there is enough resistance to prevent this expansion from kicking the plate G up and out of holding contact with the meat. Thus the friction clutch acts as an equalizer or governor regulating the pressure with a which the clamp will be heldagainst the meat. In the absence of this releasing mechanism it would be possible to clamp meat so tightly that, with some types of drive, the strain back through the mechanism could cause a binding action between the members E E and the guide rod D of sufficient extent to make it difficult, if not impossible, to feed the meat forward. The friction clutcheliminatras danger of breaking the arm E or any other part of the pusher plate assembly because of any violent throwing or 1 and past the cutting mounted upon said carriage and generally per is sufficient to prevent violent or-unduly rapid movement of the parts but is insufiicient to prevent an intended movementof the parts to any desired position.

I claim:

i 1. In a slicing machine, a base, a knife mounted on said base and means for actuating it, a carriage and means'for guiding it across the face and past the cutting edge of the knife, a pin mounted on said carriage in general perpendioularity to the cutting plane, a guide sleeve mounted on said pin and means for holding it'against rotation-in relation thereto, a pusher plate support including a sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted upon said first mentioned sleeve and a pusher plate mounted on said support,'said pusher plate support sleeve and the first mentioned sleeve being provided with opposed clutch surfaces, and means for urging said surfaces. normally into clutching relationship. r

2. In a slicing machine, a base, a knife mounted on said base and means for actuating it, a carriage and means for guiding it across the face and past the cutting edge of the knife, a pin mounted on said carriage in general perpendicularity to the cutting plane, a guide sleeve mounted on said pin and means for holding it against rotation in relation thereto, a pusher plate supportincluding a sleeve slidably and rotatably first mentioned sleeve and a pusher plate mounted on said support, said pusher plate support sleeve and the first mentioned sleeve being pro.-

vided with opposed clutch surfaces, and means for urging said surfaces normally into clutching relationship, including a spring interposed between the two sleeves.

3. In a slicing machine, a base, a knife mount-' ed on said base and means for actuating it, a carriage and meansfor guiding it across the face edge of the knife, a guide pendicular to thecutting plane, a sleeve slidable along said'guide, means for holding it against rotation thereabout, relation to the first sleeve and slidable in unison therewith along the guide, friction clutch means between the two sleeves, adapted to prevent their unintended relative rotation and a pusher plate mounted upon the last mentioned sleeve.

WILLIAM J. CAMPBELL.

mounted upon said a second sleeve rotatable in 

